Death

ded (muth; nekros): Used in several senses:

(1) as a substantive, denoting the body deprived of life, as when Abraham speaks of burying his dead (Gen 23);

(2) as a collective noun including all those that have passed away from life (as Rev 20:12). In several passages dead in this sense is used in contrast to the quick or living (as Num 16:48). This collective mode of expression is used when resurrection is described as "rising from the dead";

(3) as an adjective, coupled with body, carcass or man, as Deut 14:8 the King James Version;

(4) most frequently it is used as a complement of the verb "to be," referring to the condition of being deceased or the period of death, e. g. 2 Sam 12:19; Mark 5:35;

(5) in the sense of being liable to death it occurs in Gen 20:3; Exod 12:33; 2 Sam 16:9;

(6) as an intensive adjective it is used in the phrase "dead sleep," to mean profound sleep simulating death (Ps 76:6);

(7) figuratively "dead" is used to express the spiritual condition of those who are unable to attain to the life of faith. They are dead in trespasses, as in Eph 2:1, or conversely, those who by the New Birth are delivered from sin, are said to be dead to the Law (as Col 2:20, etc.). A faith which does not show its life in the practical virtues of Christianity is called dead (Jas 2:17);

(8) in Rom 4:19; Heb 11:12, "dead" signifies the senile condition of loss of vigor and virility.

The passage in Job 26:5, wherein in the King James Version "dead things" seem to mean things that never had life, is more accurately translated in the Revised Version (British and American) as "they that are deceased," i.e. the shades of the dead.

There are few references to the physical accompaniments of the act of dying. Deborah has a poetical account of the death of Sisera (Judg 5:24), and in Eccl 12, where the failure of the bodily faculties in old age culminates in death, it is pictorially compared to the breaking of a lamp extinguishing the flame ("golden" being probably used of "oil," as it is in Zech 4:12), and the loosing of the silver chebhel or chain by which the lamp is suspended in the tent of the Arabic.

The dead body defiled those who touched it (Lev 11:31) and therefore sepulture took place speedily, as in the case of Lazarus (John 11:17-39) and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:6-10). This practice is still followed by the fellahin.

The uselessness of the dead is the subject of proverb (Eccl 9:4) and the phrase "dead dog" is used as a contemptuous epithet as of a person utterly worthless (1 Sam 24:14; 2 Sam 9:8; 2 Sam 16:9).

Alex. Macalister

(maweth; thanatos):

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND FIGURATIVE VIEW

The word "Death" is used in the sense of

(1) the process of dying (Gen 21:16);

(2) the period of decease (Gen 27:7);

(3) as a possible synonym for poison (2 Kgs 4:40);

(4) as descriptive of person in danger of perishing (Judg 15:18; "in deaths oft" 2 Cor 11:23). In this sense the shadow of death is a familiar expression in Job, the Psalms and the Prophets;

(5) death is personified in 1 Cor 15:55 and Rev 20:14. Deliverance from this catastrophe is called the "issues from death" (Ps 68:20 the King James Version; translated "escape" in the Revised Version (British and American)). Judicial execution, "putting to death," is mentioned 39 times in the Levitical Law.

Figuratively: Death is the loss of spiritual life as in Rom 8:6; and the final state of the unregenerate is called the "second death" in Rev 20:14.

Alex. Macalister

THEOLOGICAL VIEW

1. Conception of Sin and Death:

According to Gen 2:17, God gave to man, created in His own image, the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and added thereto the warning, "in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Though not exclusively, reference is certainly made here in the first place to bodily death. Yet because death by no means came upon Adam and Eve on the day of their transgression, but took place hundreds of years later, the expression, "in the day that," must be conceived in a wider sense, or the delay of death must be attributed to the entering-in of mercy (Gen 3:15).

However this may be, Gen 2:17 places a close connection between man's death and his transgression of God's commandment, thereby attaching to death a religious and ethical significance, and on the other hand makes the life of man dependent on his obedience to God. This religious-ethical nature of life and death is not only decidedly and clearly expressed in Gen 2, but it is the fundamental thought of the whole of Scripture and forms an essential element in the revelations of salvation. The theologians of early and more recent times, who have denied the spiritual significance of death and have separated the connection between ethical and physical life, usually endeavor to trace back their opinions to Scripture; and those passages which undoubtedly see in death a punishment for sin (Gen 2:17; John 8:44; Rom 5:12; Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:21), they take as individual opinions, which form no part of the organism of revelation. But this endeavor shuts out the organic character of the revelation of salvation. It is true that death in Holy Scripture is often measured by the weakness and frailty of human nature (Gen 3:19; Job 14:1; Job 14:12; Ps 39:5; Ps 39:6; Ps 90:5; Ps 103:14; Ps 103:15; Eccl 3:20, etc.).

Death is seldom connected with the transgression of the first man either in the Old Testament or the New Testament, or mentioned as a specified punishment for sin (John 8:44; Rom 5:12; Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:21; Jas 1:15); for the most part it is portrayed as something natural (Gen 5:5; Gen 9:29; Gen 15:15; Gen 25:8, etc.), a long life being presented as a blessing in contrast to death in the midst of days as a disaster and a judgment (Ps 102:23; Isa 65:20). But all this is not contrary to the idea that death is a consequence of, and a punishment for, sin. Daily, everyone who agrees with Scripture that death is held out as a punishment for sin, speaks in the same way. Death, though come into the world through sin, is nevertheless at the same time a consequence of man's physical and frail existence now; it could therefore be threatened as a punishment to man, because he was taken out of the ground and was made a living soul, of the earth earthy (Gen 2:7; 1 Cor 15:45; 1 Cor 15:47). If he had remained obedient, he would not have returned to dust (Gen 3:19), but have pressed forward on the path of spiritual development (1 Cor 15:46; 1 Cor 15:51); his return to dust was possible simply because he was made from dust (see Adam in the New Testament). Thus, although death is in this way a consequence of sin, yet a long life is felt to be a blessing and death a disaster and a judgment, above all when man is taken away in the bloom of his youth or the strength of his years. There is nothing strange, therefore, in the manner in which Scripture speaks about death; we all express ourselves daily in the same way, though we at the same time consider it as the wages of sin. Beneath the ordinary, everyday expressions about death lies the deep consciousness that it is unnatural and contrary to our innermost being.

2. The Meaning of Death:

This is decidedly expressed in Scripture much more so even than among ourselves. For we are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea, that the body dies, yet the soul is immortal. Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite consciousness, and is nowhere found in the Old Testament. The whole man dies, when in death the spirit (Ps 146:4; Eccl 12:7), or soul (Gen 35:18; 2 Sam 1:9; 1 Kgs 17:21; Jonah 4:3), goes out of a man. Not only his body, but his soul also returns to a state of death and belongs to the nether-world; therefore the Old Testament can speak of a death of one's soul (Gen 37:21 (Hebrew); Num 23:10 m; Deut 22:21; Judg 16:30; Job 36:14; Ps 78:50), and of defilement by coming in contact with a dead body (Lev 19:28; Lev 21:11; Lev 22:4; Num 5:2; Num 6:6; Num 9:6; Num 19:10; Deut 14:1; Hag 2:13). This death of man is not annihilation, however, but a deprivation of all that makes for life on earth. The Sheol (she'ol) is in contrast with the land of the living in every respect (Job 28:13; Prov 15:24; Ezek 26:20; Ezek 32:23); it is an abode of darkness and the shadow of death (Job 10:21; Job 10:22; Ps 88:12; Ps 143:3), a place of destruction, yea destruction itself (Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Job 31:12; Ps 88:11; Prov 27:20), without any order (Job 10:22), a land of rest, of silence, of oblivion (Job 3:13; Job 3:17; Job 3:18; Ps 94:17; Ps 115:17), where God and man are no longer to be seen (Isa 38:11), God no longer praised or thanked (Ps 6:5; Ps 115:17), His perfections no more acknowledged (Ps 88:10-13; Isa 38:18; Isa 38:19), His wonders not contemplated (Ps 88:12), where the dead are unconscious, do no more work, take no account of anything, possess no knowledge nor wisdom, neither have any more a portion in anything that is done under the sun (Eccl 9:5; Eccl 9:6; Eccl 9:10). The dead ("the Shades" the Revised Version, margin; compare article Decease) are asleep (Job 26:5; Prov 2:18; Prov 9:18; Prov 21:6; Ps 88:11; Isa 14:9), weakened (Isa 14:10) and without strength (Ps 88:4).

3. Light in the Darkness:

The dread of death was felt much more deeply therefore by the Israelites than by ourselves. Death to them was separation from all that they loved, from God, from His service, from His law, from His people, from His land, from all the rich companionship in which they lived. But now in this darkness appears the light of the revelation of salvation from on high. The God of Israel is the living God and the fountain of all life (Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10; Ps 36:9). He is the Creator of heaven and earth, whose power knows no bounds and whose dominion extends over life and death (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; Ps 90:3). He gave life to man (Gen 1:26; Gen 2:7), and creates and sustains every man still (Job 32:8; Job 33:4; Job 34:14; Ps 104:29; Eccl 12:7). He connects life with the keeping of His law and appoints death for the transgression of it (Gen 2:17; Lev 18:5; Deut 30:20; Deut 32:47). He lives in heaven, but is present also by His spirit in Sheol (Ps 139:7; Ps 139:8). Sheol and Abaddon are open to Him even as the hearts of the children of men (Job 26:6; Job 38:17; Prov 15:11). He kills and makes alive, brings down into Sheol and raises from thence again (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; 2 Kgs 5:7). He lengthens life for those who keep His commandments (Exod 20:12; Job 5:26), gives escape from death, can deliver when death menaces (Ps 68:20; Isa 38:5; Jer 15:20; Dan 3:26), can take Enoch and Elijah to Himself without dying (Gen 5:24; 2 Kgs 2:11), can restore the dead to life (1 Kgs 17:22; 2 Kgs 4:34; 2 Kgs 13:21). He can even bring death wholly to nothing and completely triumph over its power by rising from the dead (Job 14:13-15; Job 19:25-27; Hos 6:2; Hos 13:14; Isa 25:8; Isa 26:19; Ezek 37:11; Ezek 37:12; Dan 12:2).

4. Spiritual Significance:

This revelation by degrees rejects the old contrast between life on earth and the disconsolate existence after death, in the dark place of Sheol, and puts another in its place. The physical contrast between life and death gradually makes way for the moral and spiritual difference between a life spent in the fear of the Lord, and a life in the service of sin. The man who serves God is alive (Gen 2:17); life is involved in the keeping of His commandments (Lev 18:5; Deut 30:20); His word is life (Deut 8:3; Deut 32:47). Life is still for the most part understood to mean length of days (Prov 2:18; Prov 3:16; Prov 10:30; Isa 65:20). Nevertheless it is remarkable that Pr often mentions death and Sheol in connection with the godless (Prov 2:18; Prov 5:5; Prov 7:27; Prov 9:18), and on the other hand only speaks of life in connection with the righteous. Wisdom, righteousness, the fear of the Lord is the way of life (Prov 8:35; Prov 8:36; Prov 11:19; Prov 12:28; Prov 13:14; Prov 14:27; Prov 19:23). The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death (Prov 14:32). Blessed is he who has the Lord for his God (Deut 33:29; Ps 1:1; Ps 1:2; Ps 2:12; Ps 32:1; Ps 32:2; Ps 33:12; Ps 34:9, etc.); he is comforted in the greatest adversity (Ps 73:25-28; Hab 3:17-19), and sees a light arise for him behind physical death (Gen 49:18; Job 14:13-15; Job 16:16-21; Job 19:25-27; Ps 73:23-26). The godless on the contrary, although enjoying for a time much prosperity, perish and come to an end (Ps 1:4-6; Ps 73:18-20; Isa 48:22; Mal 4:3, etc. ).

The righteous of the Old Testament truly are continually occupied with the problem that the lot of man on earth often corresponds so little to his spiritual worth, but he strengthens himself with the conviction that for the righteous it will be well, and for the wicked, ill (Eccl 8:12; Eccl 8:13; Isa 3:10; Isa 3:11). If they do not realize it in the present, they look forward to the future and hope for the day in which God's justice will extend salvation to the righteous, and His anger will be visited on the wicked in judgment. So in the Old Testament the revelation of the new covenant is prepared wherein Christ by His appearance hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim 1:10). See Abolish. This everlasting life is already here on earth presented to man by faith, and it is his portion also in the hour of death (John 3:36; John 11:25; John 11:26). On the other hand, he who lives in sin and is disobedient to the Son of God, is in his living dead (Matt 8:22; Luke 15:32; John 3:36; John 8:24; Eph 2:1; Col 2:13); he shall never see life, but shall pass by bodily death into the second death (Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6; Rev 20:14; Rev 21:8).

5. Death in Non-Christian Religions and in Science:

This view of Scripture upon death goes much deeper than that which is found in other religions, but it nevertheless receives support from the unanimous witness of humanity with regard to its unnaturalness and dread. The so-called nature-peoples even feel that death is much more of an enigma than life; Tiele (Inleiding tot de goddienst- artenschap, II (1900), 202, referring to Andrew Lang, Modern Mythology, chapter xiii) says rightly, that all peoples have the conviction that man by nature is immortal, that immortality wants no proof, but that death is a mystery and must be explained. Touching complaints arise in the hearts of all men on the frailty and vanity of life, and the whole of mankind fears death as a mysterious power. Man finds comfort in death only when he hopes it will be an end to a still more miserable life. Seneca may be taken as interpreter of some philosophers when he says: Stultitia est timore morris mori ("It is stupid to die through the fear of death") and some may be able, like a Socrates or a Cato, to face death calmly and courageously; what have these few to say to the millions, who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:15)? Such a mystery has death remained up to the present day. It may be said with Kassowitz, Verworm and others that the "cell" is the beginning, and the old, gray man is the natural end of an uninterrupted life-development, or with Metschnikoff, that science will one day so lengthen life that it will fade away like a rose at last and death lose all its dread; death still is no less a riddle, and one which swallows up all the strength of life. When one considers, besides, that a number of creatures, plants, trees, animals, reach a much higher age than man; that the larger half of mankind dies before or shortly after birth; that another large percentage dies in the bloom of youth or in the prime of life; that the law of the survival of the fittest is true only when the fact of the survival is taken as a proof of their fitness; that the graybeards, who, spent and decrepit, go down to the grave, form a very small number; then the enigma of death increases more and more in mysteriousness.

The endeavors to bring death into connection with certain activities of the organism and to explain it by increasing weight, by growth or by fertility, have all led to shipwreck. When Weismann took refuge in the immortality of the "einzellige Protozoen," he raised a hypothesis which not only found many opponents, but which also left mortality of the "Korperplasma" an insoluble mystery (Beth, "Ueber Ursache und Zweck des Todes, Glauben und Wissen" (1909), 285-304, 335-48). Thus, science certainly does not compel us to review Scripture on this point, but rather furnishes a strong proof of the mysterious majesty of death. When Pelagius, Socinus, Schleiermacher, Ritschl and a number of other theologians and philosophers separate death from its connection with sin, they are not compelled to do so by science, but are led by a defective insight into the relation between ethos and phusis. Misery and death are not absolutely always consequences and punishment of a great personal transgression (Luke 13:2; John 9:3); but that they are connected with sin, we learn from the experience of every day. Who can number the victims of mammonism, alcoholism and licentiousness? Even spiritual sins exercise their influence on corporal life; envy is a rottenness of the bones (Prov 14:30). This connection is taught us in a great measure by Scripture, when it placed the not yet fallen man in a Paradise, where death had not yet entered, and eternal life was not yet possessed and enjoyed; when it sends fallen man, who, however, is destined for redemption, into a world full of misery and death; and at last assigns to the wholly renewed man a new heaven and a new earth, where death, sorrow, crying or pain shall no longer exist (Rev 21:4). Finally, Scripture is not the book of death, but of life, of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It tells us, in oft-repeated and unmistakable terms, of the dreaded reality of death, but it proclaims to us still more loudly the wonderful power of the life which is in Christ Jesus. See also Decease.

Herman Bavinck